Most people have strongly polarized feelings about Hillary Rodham Clinton. She is either admired as immensely strong, or else thought a total fool. However, whomever the woman really is, she has forced the American public to examine seriously their own values, and has acted as a mirror to the women and marriages of the world.

When an individual embodies an archetype, as Hillary does, she loses her "real" self in society's eyes, becoming public property—in short, a screen reflecting back the collective value system. This is a rare attribute, and not one for the average person to assume lightly, because it takes a strong core-self to withstand this kind of situation.

The two main features in her horoscope speak of a distinct psychological split. On one hand, she has a need for absolute personal freedom. On the other hand is her rigid loyalty.

Absolute Freedom

Hillary has Uranus on her Ascendant in Gemini. Uranus is the planet we look to for a person's uniqueness and individuality. It often acts as an agent for personal change and distancing from others. When it is conjunct the Ascendant (that is, rising in the sky at the time of birth), it denotes a person whose very identity is dependent on being objective and “absent” from emotional attachment. In addition, she would be subject to sudden whims or changes in direction or attitude.

Also emphasizing the emotional distance she has is the Moon's position in the sign Pisces. It is in a square (stressful 90-degree angle), in her Tenth House of fame, to the freedom-loving Uranus on her Ascendant, and this amplifies her interior split. This aspect is the "freedom-closeness dilemma.” Her emotional needs to both give and receive love and affection are powerful—symbolized by her several planets in Scorpio coupled with the Pisces Moon—but as we have seen, so is her need to be distinct, individual and separate.

Her need for absolute freedom may seem paradoxical in the light of her steadfast assertions of loyalty to her husband in his weakest hours, but it is this very loyalty that gives her the freedom to be herself. This other side, that is, her strong, fixed, rigid side, serves her well, too. There is nothing now that she doesn't hold over her husband. Absolutely nothing. He owes her one, big time.

Strong, Rigid Loyalty

This “other side” of her nature is expressed through the characteristics of her Scorpio planets (Hillary has her Sun, Chiron, Venus, Mercury and South Node in Scorpio), coupled with Mars (energy) and Pluto (power) exactly conjunct in Leo. Her inner power (Scorpio) is nuclear—her core-self (Sun) is never touched by externals, thus she will never lose her soul and will.

While Mars has to do with drawing boundaries and definition around identity, Pluto is about absolute power—raw, unformed and amoral. These two planets, coupled with Saturn, show a dogged, furious rage to live her life to the fullest and overthrow adversaries of all kinds.

Her Pluto Power

Pluto rules, or is linked to, the sign Scorpio, and thus it is most important in the evolution of any Scorpio-type person. Hillary is only now coming into her full, ruling Pluto power. Pluto is a planet that we all mature into, and the Pluto in Leo generation (born between 1940 and 1955) experiences transiting Pluto trine (in a harmonious 120-degree angle) their natal Pluto at ages 52-54. Because Pluto is the planet farthest from the Sun, its very distance from the center of the solar system symbolizes Scorpio's tendency to come into their own during and after mid-life.

Another factor in Hillary's maturation into her own sphere of influence and power is her unaspected Scorpio Sun—it makes no close contact with any other planet. This means her ability to feel confident in being a true leader, as opposed to a supportive partner, has been a slow process. Pluto is transiting in a trine to its natal place in her horoscope over the next eighteen months, and thus her dependency issues—her fear of failure and being on her own—will likely diminish rapidly between now and mid-2001.

Hillary's Future

The past years as First Lady have been a litmus test of her inner strength and public power and a proving ground, as if she has been in an apprenticeship. The real test now comes during these last seven months toward the election in November, and beyond. The transits of Saturn and Uranus in the sky are forcing a confrontation within herself to hone her obvious determination and strength (this is the positive side of her Venus and Mercury in square to Mars, Saturn and Pluto). She will find reason to examine her values, based on her own personal truth, and come out of this period clearly with her own goals well defined.

This next training period will prepare Hillary for long-term success in her political future, which is very real, if not immediately won.